Britain to ban arms sales over nuclear fears

Britain today looked set to ban arms sales to India and Pakistan in a bid to halt the nuclear rivals' slide towards war.

Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt reportedly signed an order halting export licences last Thursday.

The ban is now understood to be awaiting confirmation as Foreign Secretary Jack Straw prepares to visit the region in a bid to ease the growing tensions.

A Department of Trade and Industry spokesman said no ban was yet in place, but did not challenge details of the reports.

"The Government continues to monitor the situation in India and Pakistan very closely and is considering export licence decisions for India and Pakistan on a case by case basis very carefully in the light of the latest developments," he said.

A ban could threaten a £1 billion order for 66 Hawk advanced training aircraft which BAE Systems is negotiating with India, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Martin O'Neill, the Labour MP who chairs the Trade and Industry Select Committee, suggested that was a price worth paying in the push for peace and BAE was aware of the risks.

"I think it is the correct thing to do in the circumstances," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"Britain is probably the only European country with any claim to have some influence over India and Pakistan, and I think while in the past the former Soviet Union in relation to India and China in relation to Pakistan have been the main suppliers, we are now having an increasingly influential role and it is important that we seek to use what influence we have."

BAE were not "innocents abroad" and knew the risks of dealing with India amid the mounting tensions over the disputed region of Kashmir, Mr O'Neill said.

"They recognise that in entering into discussions with a country like India and given the sensitivities that any negotiations they have could be jeopardised by deteriorating relations," he told Today.

"While these aircraft are ostensibly training in character they can be used in any potential conflict.

"I think at this stage it is understandable that these negotiations could be jeopardised but I don't think BAE would have entered into discussions in ignorance of that."

With relations deteriorating between the neighbouring powers it would be "criminally wrong" to carry on selling arms, he added.

Indian and Pakistani troops today exchanged heavy mortar, artillery and machine-gun fire along the line which divides Kashmir, Indian army officers said.

One officer from India's border security force was killed in Naushara region and five villagers were injured. There were no immediate reports of casualties on the Pakistani side.

Troops also fired machine guns across the international border separating the two nuclear-armed neighbours, Indian officers said.

Jack Straw is expected to urge Pakistan to do more to curb Islamic terrorists responsible for a string of deadly attacking in India when he visits the capitals of New Delhi and Islamabad.

The Foreign Secretary has said he has no peace plan to offer but believes international intervention can help to cool the crisis and bring the two sides together.

However, Pakistan has continued to raise the temperature by conducting missile tests over the weekend.

And Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee last night warned that his country's patience was wearing thin in the face of terrorist attacks by Kashmiri separatists.

"When the world is fighting terrorism and American forces are in Afghanistan fighting the forces of terrorism, then how and for how long can India tolerate terrorism?" he said.

Ron Cartwright, the AEEU's convenor at the Brough BAE plant in Hull, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he was concerned about the possible implications of the suspension for the Hawk deal.

Mr Cartwright said: "We are obviously concerned. We are concerned about the conflict in India, between the two countries, but as a site we would be concerned if there is any delay in the order.

"It is a major campaign we have been leading for 16 years and we thought this was getting to the end of the campaign.

"We believe that the order should still go ahead, because we wouldn't be delivering any aircraft into India until 2004, so it would have no impact at all on the conflict that is out there at the moment."

Mr Cartwright said there were 2,000 employees at the plant, and warned that if the deal was delayed the company might have to look at manning levels.